Body shaping, skin tightening and rejuvenation, collagen fibers contraction, removal of wrinkles, and other aesthetic skin treatments are popular and widely used in the field of cosmetic and appearance improvement procedures. The treatments are typically provided through the application of electromagnetic or acoustic energy to a target section of skin. In these treatment procedures, an applicator having an inner cavity or vacuum chamber is typically applied to the skin of a subject such that the section of the skin to be treated is pulled up or drawn into the vacuum chamber forming a skin fold that will be termed as skin protrusion. The electromagnetic energy, such as Radio Frequency (RF), or acoustic energy, such as ultrasound, is applied to one or more sides of the protrusion to perform a desired skin/tissue effect in the skin/tissue between the electrodes or between ultrasound transducers. After the treatment, the skin is again straightened or the protrusion is relaxed and the desired skin effect such as, for example contraction of collagen fibers or destruction of adipose tissue by the electromagnetic or acoustic energy, is realized.
The generation of the skin protrusion includes multiple advantages, one such being that it allows all or portions of the skin to be treated by rapidly conforming to the shape of the applicator and preventing undesired movement of the applicator during the treatment. Formation of the protrusion and negative pressure in the cavity is also necessary to stabilize and temporarily attach energy emitting contact surfaces to the skin. Properly attached electrodes couple larger portions of RF or ultrasound and increase the desired treatment effects, reduce the number of treatments required to reach the desired effect, and improve the success confidence of the treated subject. However, to ensure proper contact with the skin, the vacuum that is applied to the skin should be strong enough to form and maintain the protrusion. However, the application of sufficient vacuum force to provide the desired contact has some negative effects on the skin. These negative effects can include, among other things, leaving endemic bruising spots on the skin, causing pain to the treated subject during the procedure and following, and requiring extended post-treatment recovery periods.
The vacuum chamber or cavity used for protrusion formation has a relatively large size but, the skin drawn inside may occupy only a section of the cavity. The pump that delivers vacuum or negative pressure into the chamber should be a relatively large pump enabling rapid air evacuation from the cavity, protrusion formation and maintaining of the protrusion for at least the time of treatment. These requirements unfortunately increase the cost of the equipment used for different skin treatment procedures because, there is variability in the skin properties between different subjects. In addition, because of this, low-level vacuum pressure or force is sufficient for generation of the required protrusion for some treated subjects. However, other subjects may require a substantially higher level of vacuum force. It is a common practice of the caregiver or operator to manually adjust or vary the vacuum level, until he or she finds the optimal level, which is sufficient for the treatment of the skin and does not cause painful sensations. This optimal vacuum level varies from one subject to the other, sometimes there is no such optimal level, and the treatment is either painful or inefficient.
It would be desirable to have an applicator that would allow a protrusion to be formed and maintained for a desired time with good coupling to the energy emitting surfaces, without adversely affecting the skin or causing pain to the treated subject.